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Valley existing home sales fell by nearly 2,500 recorded sales from February 2005 to February 2006, the Arizona Real Estate Center announced Tuesday.

In February 2006, 5,455 local existing home sales were recorded, down from 7,935 sales a year ago. However, February's total was above the 5,260 sales recorded in January 2006.

The 2006 year-to-date is 10,715, in contrast to 17,290 for 2005, but comparable to the 10,680 sales for start of 2004.

"The impact of the holidays on recordings and the desire of people to look for a new home make the early months of year a poor barometer for the coming year," said Jay Butler, director of the Arizona Real Estate Center at Arizona State University's Polytechnic campus. "The basic direction of the local real estate market will probably not become clearer until into the second quarter."

The primary news of last year's housing market was the rapid rise in the median home price from $194,000 in January to $260,000 in December. Since the record of $263,000 was set in September, the growth essentially stopped and by January the median price was $257,000. A slight re-emergence of price growth occurred in February as the median price hit $265,000, up from $200,000 in February 2005.

"As prices have stagnated since August, inventory levels have continued to grow, as we suspect an increasing number of speculators are placing their homes on the market," Raymond James analyst Rick Murray wrote to clients Monday. From August 2005 to February 2006, inventory increased by 122 percent, according to Murray's research. From a months-supply perspective, that means six months of inventory were on the market at the end of February, compared with 1.6 months in August, noted Murrary.

Here is the city-to-city breakdown of home resales/median prices from Feb. 2005 - Feb. 2006, as reported by the Arizona Real Estate Center:

Phoenix recorded sales decreased from 2,235 sales to 1,680 sales, while the median sales price increased to $213,750 from $160,000.

The Scottsdale resale home market declined from 635 to 400 recorded sales and the median sales price increased from $469,400 a year ago to $575,000.

Mesa's resale housing market declined from 945 to 655 sales, and the median price increased from $180,000 to $245,000.

Glendale decreased from 545 to 435 sales, but the median sales price increased from $175,000 a year ago to $250,000.

The Sun City resale market fell from 150 to 100 sales, as the median sales price increased to $216,000 from $159,900. Resale activity in Sun City West also fell from 70 to 60 sales, but the median sales price increased from $189,900 to $243,500.

The resale market in Gilbert decreased from 495 to 290 sales, but the median sales price increased from $251,000 to $341,000.

Chandler's resale market slowed from 560 to 400 recorded sales, while the median sales price increased from $230,000 to $299,900.

The Tempe resale market decreased from 165 to 120 sales, with the median sales price increasing to $300,000 from $198,900 a year ago.

Avondale's resale market fell from 170 to 110 sales with the median price improving from $196,000 to $261,000.

The El Mirage resale market decreased from 120 to 60 sales, while the median home price went from $165,300 to $221,000.

Goodyear declined from 150 to 80 recorded resales, while the median price increased from $208,400 to $289,000.

The Surprise resale market decreased from 345 sales to 200 sales, as the median price rose from $198,000 to $260,750.

The highest median sales price was in Paradise Valley at $1,712,500.

The Arizona Real Estate Center is associated with East College at Arizona State University's Polytechnic campus in Mesa. The center collects and analyzes data concerning real estate in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area.